The 500 Festival Open Invitation was a professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

tournament on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

, played during the 1960s in Indianapolis,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. It was sponsored by The 500 Festival, a not-for-profit volunteer organization created in 1957 to organize civic events to promote the Indianapolis 500. The tournament was played at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway#Golf, Speedway Golf Course, located in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex; the exception was in 1965 PGA Tour, 1965, when it was played at Greentree Country Club while the Speedway was undergoing renovations.

Tournament highlights

In 1961 Doug Ford (golfer), Doug Ford won on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff over Arnold Palmer. In 1963 the Indianapolis 500 was held on Thursday May 30, and the tournament was held over four days from Friday, May 31 to Monday, June 3. Previously the golf tournament was held prior to the running of the race. The one-day turnaround required grounds crews to quickly clean up the nine holes inside the track, used on race day for parking by fans. Considerable attention was given to the fact that several top names on the PGA Tour decided to skip the event. Among the reasons cited was the low purse, and the overall unchallenging nature of the course. In 1964 the tournament was held from Wednesday, May 27 through Friday, May 29, then concluded Sunday May 31. The Indianapolis 500 was held Saturday May 30. Gary Player sank a birdie putt on the final hole to clinch the victory. The 1965 tournament was held at Greentree Country Club. The Speedway Golf Course was undergoing a renovation project. In 1966 the tournament was moved out of the month of May and away from the activities directly surrounding the Indy 500. Billy Casper won the event three times while Doug Ford (golfer), Doug Ford won it twice.

Winners

References

{{coord, 39.789, -86.229, display=title Former PGA Tour events Golf in Indiana Sports competitions in Indianapolis, Festival Recurring sporting events established in 1960 Recurring events disestablished in 1968 1960 establishments in Indiana 1968 disestablishments in Indiana

Tournament highlights

Winners

See also

References